MMAPosts

After a long long time (two years has it been, since this first post?) I can finally say that the first larger work to come out of this endeavor is emerging out of the primordial soup:

The documentary film I have been working on with a crew of filmmakers and producers, The New Masters, is coming to life. We just launched a Kickstarter Campaign to keep the project rolling, and when you visit the page, you’ll see our trailer, several photos from the project, and the story we mean to tell.

Please, Share it on your social media. Donate to the cause. We put together some great rewards packages as a token of our our gratitude for your support. Also, leave some feedback either here, or in the Kickstarter if you do end up backing us (thank you!!) and let us know what you think of the story we are trying to tell.
Here some excerpts:

“Over the past couple decades, Kungfu has taken a back seat to a new combat phenomenon, mixed martial arts, or MMA. MMA is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and the new proving ground for anyone who considers themselves “the greatest warrior on the planet”.

Our documentary, The New Masters, explores the meeting of these two martial styles in Mainland China. We follow MMA fighters and Kungfu masters as they navigate new landscapes, feed their families, seek out the Tao, and fight for the pride of a nation. The film will also explain how the martial arts in China are a metaphor for China’s own emergence onto the world stage. Traditional culture, in this case Kungfu, is being diluted and transformed by commercial considerations and the sweeping power of globalization, represented by MMA and the general mixing of martial arts worldwide.”

“The New Masters is also a poignant look at one critical aspect of China’s rise: How can China’s most treasured cultural traditions contribute to the modern world? Is there more to modern China than just cheap exports and the breakneck commercialization of a once-Communist hermit?

This is a question that grips many Chinese today, and although discourse in China is dynamic, much of it is overlooked in favor of economic and (mostly negative) political news. The martial arts are one forum for this conversation.

We want to to bring this larger story to the screen, and we need your help to do it.”

I had the privilege of being on the Sinica Podcast recently, talking about my project and just the scene in general. I feel I could have done a much better job of it – a lot of inaccuracies, and I think my tone was very anti-China which is basically a fount for inaccuracies – but at the time I was just trying to not stutter and be as lucid as possible. Great experience, and gave me the bug to do more of this type of work. I also spend a lot of time talking about the documentary film, The New Masters, which I am helping produce. If you want to learn more about that, here is our website (under construction, but I am working on it RIGHT NOW) and here is our Facebook page. A Kickstarter is forthcoming, as soon as all ducks are in a row. Stay tuned!

Ning Guangyou will be fighting at the UFC Macao event August 23. He is scheduled to fight Yang Jianping, a good looking television star and former fighter for China’s most popular fighting promotion, Wu Lin Feng. Check out this little short Chris and David put together of him hitting the bags …